How do drivers work?

So everyone knows AMD is having problems with drivers and a lot of us are reinstalling,updating and reverting back to previous ones etc.

Basically, when I uninstall the driver and reinstall, I never use DDU. I just uninstall from the control panel and install another driver by downloading it from the AMD website. (Not the minimal setup.) Is it really necessary to use DDU? The uninstall in the control panel always works and is safe.

Another question. When you guys update your driver do you uninstall the current one and download it through AMD's website ? Or do you just press express install from the drop down button in Radeon Settings ? When using express install, is the old driver kind of changed with the new one or does it do the same as the full uninstall and install ? How does this impact storage space?

These are some questions I always had in my mind and if there is one way how to do which is safer or better I would like to know.

Respectfully, guys, you have to attend everyone issues, even if the harmed are few. I am one for example, i had to reinstall the 10.1 cuz the others messed up my windows (didn't initialize, infinite loading)

but if you see the forum, the forum has a lot post from user and issue with: 17.10.3/2 or 17.11.1 , and i think the most people in the world have the same problem, but they dont post nothing here, because they dont know this forum, looks like 17.10.2/3 and 17.11.1 are only for amd vega , but the most people have polaris , not vega!

Well the majority of people use game and graphics default settings and don't have nearly the problems that hardcore gamers have. They don't overclock their cpu or gpu....they don't have two graphics cards, they are happy with 60fps in a game, they check for updates for their computer, they don't play on Ultra and only have one monitor. They don't install third party software to control their graphics cards. High fps is not important to them and certainly could care less what anybody else is getting.

I'm not saying there aren't issues, but if you look at some of the posters here and read all their posts....some going back a year..you see a pattern of one issue after another. And it's all AMD's fault.

Have you actually read any of the articles or Google results of the issues this last Windows update has caused? It even borked it's own browser Edge (which a quick fix was made). There is a way to submit issues reports to Microsoft...how many have used it? How to report Windows 10 bugs to Microsoft?

Repeating the above, not many people sign up to say what a great job...

im a hardcore gamer, i have 6 terabyte of videogames in my system, i dont want to debate with which is the responsability of AMD with the consumer of their videocard, that is more than clear,if windows 10 fall creators update has the fault, why driver 17.10.1 works well with it? i only want a next driver with WHQL FOR PLAY MY GAMES WELL!

There can be many reasons why a driver / software is not working properly. It does not have to be the fault of AMD.

But what I do not understand is, when functions are specified but do not work.I'm referring to the drivers of Linux and RX550 and WX3100 graphics cards. Open GL is not working but there i can read nothing in the lineup. I have testet this in Ubuntu 16.04.0x LTS and Linux Mint 18.2.

why always to excuse AMD? i dont understand that,if you to analisys the troubles with windows 10 fall creators update and the drivers 17.10.2/3 and 17.11.1 clearly is a trouble of AMD, because the driver 17.10.1 works well

Generally speaking, it's the user that has issues with keeping a clean and operating machine. Sure there might be some issues with a game or two, but system wide issues are rare. Also, you might hear someone else having the same issue, and that's because people have no clue what they are doing. I regularly see people blaming drivers for sloppy game devs.

Also, FCU changed WDDM version and added features. With the April CU, MS basically broke various things that did not get updated till now. The key to getting Win 10 working smoothly is to disable as much as you can. All the stupid windows store apps, the telemetry, the gaming bar junk, the list just goes on and on. Oh yea, all the phone apps and services. Fast boot, etc...

If there's one thing Microsoft should STOP and that is installing what it thinks is the best Driver for your system. AMD are giving these Drivers to MS. They have to be otherwise how are MS passing them onto us?? I've never had a clear answer from AMD on this issue. Whose side are AMD on? The customers or MS?

Thanks for all the replies guys even though only 2 have answered my question. The rest have answered the moderator and did well in fact to do so, since all of you wrote good points. As nearly everyone is saying, driver 17.10,1 works with every game. Even Siege.The Windows update came and AMD had to make a new driver to kind of optimise it for Windows 10 FCU as it says in the release notes in 17.10.2 . But all they did was make it worse.

I am pretty sure that nearly everyone who has the creators update installed and has driver 17.10.2 upwards has problems. Not everyone will come posting here obviously! Imagine what would happen. Some just come to check if there is a similar problem, see a post and then just say : "Ah ok it s not just me then" and that's it. They wait for another update. But then there are a few who actually have to come here to post about issues so that AMD can fix them. In which we are.

No not only a handful of them have issues. Some may even have a prebuilt or something and make use of the warranty, return it to the store and it s up to the tech guys in the store to resolve it even though they cant do anything about it.

Every single guy who has 17.10.2 upwards has problems. Yes I believe it is every single one. And if not then that 1 guy does not own that game the constantly crashes with these updates but has another one that still works fine. For instance Battlefield 1 always worked for me in all these updates. Not Rainbow Six Siege though.

I always uninstall, then install new drivers. I only use DDU if there is an issue with that. Always direct download from AMD or manufacturer. If you have a laptop, then it's best to use the manufacturer's drivers because not all laptops are compatible with generic drivers. Use google for more opinions.

Just because you experience an issue doesn't mean everyone experiences the same issue. Most of the issues are related to users that have no clue what they are doing and installing. They get malware, incorrect drivers, win 10 home is overwriting installed drivers,... Whatever the case might be. Another issue is that the user has hardware going bad, but the user refuses to believe it, "It works on everything else, but blah blah blah". Sorry, but that's how it start, with one game not working right.

Another thing most do not seem to realize, you do not have to upgrade your drivers every single time. It's preferred to only update drivers if you have a specific issue you are trying to address. If you have an issue with a specific version, then go back to the previous working version and enter a driver issue on feedback form. A lot of the time it's some obscure piece of software or hardware that is causing the issue.

I am not saying all drivers are perfect. But it's not as wide spread failure as you represent. Generally speaking, it's the same people that always have the issues with regular complaints like "You suck amd. I haven't got a working driver <since some old version> wah wah wah".